Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Visionaries of Tomorrow How did Dave get hooked up with the Legion in the first place?

That's my question. If Dave drops by to share the tale, then great! But if someone else is familiar with the details, then by all means please contribute.

One thing I've always been curious about regarding this is how much of influence did fan pressure via the mail or whatever have in getting a new artist (Dave) to take over the series after it was languishing under Tuska's pencils. Did the fan push to revive Legion to a regular series create an opening for Dave or was that independent decision by the editor (I forgot who) to take a chance on a newcomer like Dave?

Relatedly, did Dave's association with Murphy Anderson, who was inking Superboy around that time, play a part in him getting the assignment?

Just some basic Q's regarding the events that saved the Legion from perpetual comic book limbo!

Hello? Anybody?

In Dave's own words, from the forward to Legion Archives #10:

I first discovered comic books back when Captain Marvel was allowed to use his own name as the logo of his comic books. I used to run around the back yard with a towel tied to my neck shouting "Scissors!" because I couldn't pronounce "Shazam". Obviously, I was warped at an early age. As soon as I was old enough to realize that someone was actually drawing these adventures, I knew that was what I wanted to do.

After three years of college and six years of the Navy, I came to New York to bestow my blazing talent on the comics industry. I was informed-- to my chagrin-- that I was just THIS short of being professional quality. In other words, I was a Very Good Fan Artist. Fortunately, I was able to get a little pro experience under my belt when Neal Adams recommended me to Jim Warren, of Warren publishing. My first year in the business was spent drawing black and white horro stories for Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella. It was an interesting experience. I felt constantly frustrated, thought, because as every red-blooded comics fan knew, comics were supposed to be in color! All in color for a dime, and all that, right?

Sorry, neither, as Lieutenant Uhura once said.

Enter Murphy Anderson, one of my true heroes, and one of the finest artists and gentlemen to ever grace this business. Murphy was then inking Curt Swan on SUPERMAN and Bob Brown on SUPERBOY, not to mention several other titles, and he needed a second background inker to help his regular one, Jack Abel, pick up the pace. He took a chance on me. For the first couple of jobs I was terrified of ruining irreplaceable artwork because I really had no idea what I was doing, but Murphy was patient and good-humored and slowly I began to learn the trade.

That's when the Big Break came along. The Legion of Super-Heroes had been dying a slow death the previous couple of years, floundering as an occasional backup feature in the SUPERBOY book. It has reached the point where the editorial staff couldn't even find an artist who wanted it. Murphy let it slip to me that it was available; I was otta there so fast I left skidmarks on the linoleum. The Flash himself couldn't have gotten to editor Murray Boltinoff's office any faster. I arrived drooling on his desktop and he made me back off and count to one hundred before he'd even talk to me.

OK, I got it because nobody else wanted it. But the point is, I GOT IT. As I was a rank newcomer, Murray wasn't entirely convinced I was up to the job, but since I was working for Murphy, HE would be in charge of quality control by agreeing to INK the strip. My first effort, scripted by Cary Bates, appeared in SUPERBOY #184 and was a rather silly story (sorry, Cary) about Matter-Eater Lad's jealous younger brother planting a transmitter in M-E Lad's breakfast cereal so that he could broadcast treasonous thought to Saturn Girl to pick up. Never mind that it was silly-- when it came out, I ran around screaming like a banshee and waving a copy under every nose in the tri-state area.

Oddly enough, Murray Boltinoff had listed Murphy first in the credits, because he feared Murphy might take offense at being listed second to such a young upstart (Murphy was too much a professional and too much a gentleman to have been that petty). Consequently, to this day there are people who believe the Murphy penciled that first story and I inked it.

The Legion wasn't running regularly in the SUPERBOY book, so it took a while to start building a volume of work and get some feedback from the fans. I think those early strips were probably regarded as competant but not very exciting. The best thing I had going for me in those days was an enthusiasm for the job, and science-fictiony design sense that started early and thoroughly permeated the strip by the time I left. It's evident in the costuming, the sculpted consoles, the weird machinery, and the Star Trek-influence spaceships, including the big Legion cruisers, which I loved to draw.

Thanks, EDE! I finally got back over here.

That's a great piece by Dave. I think NC & LL might want to consider a permanent topic in the Encyclopedia Forum for Creator's memoirs like this. I'm sure ther are more out there on the web as well as in the Archives.

Thanks again, EDE.

That's just the beginning of the piece. He goes on to talk about changing Legionnaire costumes, various story proposals that he pitched that never made it, and the contributions he did make (Wildfire [almost called "Wildfirf"], the Devilfish). It's pretty interesting stuff.

Everyone should get out their copy of #10 of the Archives (if they own it) or their favorite Cockrum Legion story and just read it. Remember Dave.